The team hacked this data viewer together
over a weekend as a proof-of-concept. In the typical spirit of the
digital humanities and digital archaeology, they developed a playful
approach exploring the materials using the potential of the HTC Vive sdk
to ingest Open Context data as json, and then to place it into a
relative 3d space. We particularly appreciated their candour and
self-assessment of what worked, and didn’t work about their project, and
their plans for the future. We look forward to seeing their work
progress, and hope that this prize will help them move forward. Please
explore their project at https://vrcheology.github.io/ .

Congratulations to the team, and thank
you to all who participated. Please keep your eyes peeled for next
year’s edition of the prize!

Arma is the newsletter of the Roman Military Equipment Conference (ROMEC) which, since 1983, has met to discuss the arms, armour, and military fittings of the Roman army. The proceedings of these volumes have been published (four of them by British Archaeological Reports) but Arma now provides an opportunity for the publication of short notes on recent finds, news of relevant publications, and a running bibliography of academic articles published on the subject since 1980. The newsletter also supplies details about forthcoming events, including of course the next ROMEC. Of interest to specialists and enthusiasts alike, as well as unit and museum staff, and academics working in related fields, Arma offers the chance to keep up-to-date with Roman military equipment studies.

Several early volumes are available online, the remaining volumes Table of contents only

GlobalXplorer°
is an online platform that uses the power of the crowd to analyze the
incredible wealth of satellite images currently available to
archaeologists. Launched by 2016 TED Prize winner and National
Geographic Fellow, Dr. Sarah Parcak, as her “wish for the world,”
GlobalXplorer° aims to bring the wonder of archaeological discovery to
all, and to help us better understand our connection to the past. So
far, Dr. Parcak’s techniques have helped locate 17 potential pyramids,
in addition to 3,100 potential forgotten settlements and 1,000 potential
lost tombs in Egypt — and she's also made significant discoveries in
the Viking world and Roman Empire. With the help of citizen scientists
across the globe, she hopes to uncover much, much more. This is just the
beginning. With additional funding, Dr. Parcak aims to revolutionize
how modern archaeology is done altogether, by creating a global network
of citizen explorers, opening field schools to guide archaeological
preservation on the ground, developing an archaeological institute, and
even launching a satellite designed with archaeology in mind.

So far, Sarah’s methods have proved over 90% successful in producing significant discoveries.

The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.

The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.

AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.